Talk ’N Text ran without
letup Friday night and spilled San Miguel Beer dry in a 95-82 Game 6 victory
that gave the Tropang Texters the Philippine Cup in a style very few thought
was impossible to do against the rock-solid Beermen.
Six players scored in twin
digits for the Texters, who whipped up a dizzying storm right from the opening
tip to post commanding leads early before totally chopping down San Miguel to
size in the second half with two huge runs at the Big Dome.
“First of all, we set out to
play 96 hard minutes, we got the first 48 done last Wednesday and that would
have gone for naught if we didn’t follow up (tonight),” Talk ’N Text coach Chot
Reyes said after winning the sixth title in his career.
The firebrand mentor also
became the first coach to win two titles each with three different teams
counting victories with Purefoods, where he started, and with Coca-Cola early
in the last decade.
“I felt we had to come out
with our best effort and best game in the series and we were able to achieve
that,” added Reyes. “We didn’t want it to be close that’s the reason we were
running till the end.
“We knew coming into this
game that they (Beermen) haven’t lost a close game (in the tournament).”
Ryan Reyes, with the memory
of his recently-departed brother in his mind and heart, scored 14 of his 17
points in the first two periods and jumpstarted the Talk ’N Text offense before
the rest of the team picked it up in the second half to deal the Beermen a
second straight beating and close out the series, 4-2.
“I played so hard because I
wanted to win this series for him,” the 6-foot-2 Reyes, described by his coach
as the team’s great foundation and stabilizer, said, referring to Allan Raymond
who died in a car accident in Anaheim two days before the start of the
best-of-seven series.
San Miguel, its core one of
the oldest in the league, simply had no legs to keep up with the Texters in the
second half as it appeared obvious that the Beermen had already lost steam
after erasing an early 14-point deficit to lead by two once.
Two 12-0 runs coming in
separate stages of the second half highlighted the rout as the Texters took leads
of as many as 17 points at the halfway point of the final frame to win this one
the way they did in Game 5 – pulling away.
The last of those bombs came
after the Beermen had come within 76-71 with a Jay Washington triple, as Ali
Peek and Alapag conspired to make it an 88-71 game entering the game’s final
5:57.
And that lead was enough to
set off a wild celebration among the Talk ’N Text faithful in the gallery and
frustrate the Beermen so much that they scored just 11 more points the rest of
the way.
Washington, who won the Best
Player of the Conference award before Game 4, paced the Beermen with 29 points
and was the sole reason why San Miguel was not dumped early on by the Texters.
He also had 18 rebounds but
got very little support from the other stars in the San Miguel squad as Arwind
Santos finished with just 10, six of them during garbage time.
Jimmy Alapag was again solid
for the Texters, finishing with 15 points, 10 assists and five rebounds to cap
a splendid series and share the Finals MVP award with backcourt mate Jason
Castro,
“I’m just so proud of the
guys,” Alapag, fighting back tears and struggling for words, told reporters
inside the press room. “Last conference (loss to Alaska) was the worst loss of
my career.
“I think with this win, it’s mission
accomplished, I couldn’t be more proud for this guy right next to me,” he
added, referring to Castro.
The title was just the third
for the Talk ’N Text franchise after two previous all-Filipino triumphs.
Talk ‘N Text’s first league
title came in 2003 during the Asi Taulava era, with the second coming two
seasons ago.
